Operation 417 Down

EK417: Situation Critical, Times Running Out

CHAPTER EIGHT: Touchdown for the 4th time

It was early morning on the 22nd of August when the C17's rubber wheels hit the ground after 13.5 hours airborne, everyone was filled with energy and was ready to fight, I was very familiar with the climate in Afghanistan; serving 3 deployments in all seasons gave me a understanding of the weather in Afghanistan, we were taken to a local remote town where we would operate and live for the next ... God knows. The base was just 30 minutes from the airfield, the house was constructed from mud bricks and sand bags, there were 10 large rooms both divided into a trooper and a senior/officer room,  from past experience this was actually the greatest accommodations available to me over the past deployments.

Outside in the control & command room (CCR) their were radio and high-tech equipment which include live-time satellite camera controls and live updates with the situation.

There was nothing else for me to do now, I thought we would get straight into action as soon as we step off in Afghanistan, but I was kept being told the same thing over and over again "just keep training you and your men and prepare for any immediate orders to move out"

As I described earlier me and my men were like sitting ducks, however this was about to change on the night of a August winter.

CHAPTER NINE: Live Catch

It was 03:00 on the 28th of August just over one month since the hijacking took place, I was woken up by a trooper from 3rd Platoon telling me to rush down to the CCR immediately, as always in under 2 minutes I was at the CCR, I saw the Regional Commander, "Good morning men, we're finally getting some action" he said, wondering what he is talking about he opened his mouth and said

"We have detected a large rectangular patch in the jungle at point 233.243 (grid reference), close looks at the location revealed what we have been hoping for, covered in tree branches and dust we could barely see an aircraft which matches the description of EK417" - "Men I can reassure you that this is the plane, we have found it but we cannot reveal anything to the world as this is now an operational mission"

It brought a smile to our face, knowing that the lives of 300 passengers are highly confirmed that they are still alive, unfortunately these passengers were being kept in an unknown location and that our task now is to plan the operation as sharp as we could make it in order to rescue these people, immediately the Commandos were placed on standby to move out at any moment notice, the satellite images revealed that the patch were being cleared to land the aircraft and it was being covered up by the bush, surrounding images shows only highly dense bushes but I know for sure this was the location, if not the passengers would be close to the site. Later in the afternoon we were beginning our operation - 4 SASR recon snipers were sent into the location to collect as much information as possible so we could begin the planning, they are capable of staying in one spot without moving for more than 7 days and they are constantly feeding us information.

CHAPTER TEN: Band of Brothers

I remember sitting around the operation planning table for 8 hours per day just waiting for any fresh information to come through so that I could start planning, on the 2nd of September (1 week after finding) my work paid off; final confirmations from the SASR recalled that the passengers were being kept in a large cottage, however getting to them is not easy...AT ALL. I was being told that there were over 780 highly armed guards surrounding the area, to top it off the buildings and location is well defended with missiles and security surveillance systems.

All afternoon I spent the last of my effort in prepping a mission plan, it included my targets, maps and additional information which would be related to the hijacking - a strike plan was now being drawn up and confirmed by the Australian Government, now stage 2 - whats going to happen, we wouldn't want to waste anymore time, it was a very hard mission - 250 Commandos/SASR and 100 US Marines up against 780 men who were trained like SAS + Spetnaz placed together, we required additional support and the Australian sent in 1RAR which was my old unit, it had 100 infantrymen who was used to fighting small group of men not a whole 780 force, America also sent in 100 US Navy SEALS who is responsible for the air attacks and any demolition works. Overnight many troops from these units were sent into the location, everyone was armed and ready, the final call was made one and a half day later.....

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Commissioned

On the 4th of September a phone call from the Australian Prime Minister came with a announcement everyone wanted to hear.

"Troopers I now have read your operation and strike plan and I confirm your plan, good luck men, the lives of 300 passengers is in your hands, do this right and make sure everyone come home alive"

Immediately hanging up the Commander gave us the signal to strike, the operation was being commissioned and was called "Operation 417 Down" - over 450 troopers and officers rushed to the main quad where they would conduct their equipment check and reload their ammunition, we were required to keep as quiet and casual as possible, because God knows we never know if there's a messenger around the town.

It was 12:05PM and the helicopters arrived to pick us up, each of us written a "final" letter just in case they would be KIA or MIA, everyone was filled with adrenaline, they knew it was crazy to fight 780 well trained men with only 450 troopers, but the operation had a secret strike plan. This felt like Operation Red Wings which occurred in northern Afghanistan, only difference, we are here to rescue 300 passengers.

12:45PM - Alpha Platoon boarded Helicopter number 2 and immediately took off for a 40 minute flight to the drop off point, everyone did not talk they were all focused on what to come, the flight was very bumpy and loud as usual, my thougnt came back to my parents in Vietnam and Brother who was somewhere around Australia working - I wonder what will happen to them if something happened to me....

13:05 - We descended slowly into the dense Forrest of Afghanistan, it was nerve racking - we were being dropped off just 70km away from the attack point to risk being detected by the noise and movement - since the terrain was rough and filled with trees we were required to "fast rope" down to the ground, it was a 40m drop but I was trained for this.... my final prayers were being said and as soon as I was given the nod I slide down that rope into the ground.